accessibility-call-alternative

---
name: accessibility-call-alternative
description: Builds the alternative route to book a table for a caller who cannot use an ordinary voice call, worked out in advance rather than invented on the spot, and checks it against the duty to make reasonable adjustments in the Equality Act 2010, the recognised relay route for deaf and speech impaired callers, and the recognition of British Sign Language. It will not produce a policy that only exists once a disabled customer has already been turned away, because the duty it is built from applies before anybody asks. Use before a caller who cannot hear, speak or use a phone the way your booking line expects needs to book, and before you publish a phone-only contact page.
---

# The booking route that works when the phone call does not

You give this how your business currently takes bookings and what, if anything, happens for a caller who cannot use an ordinary voice call. You get back the extra routes to publish, the exact wording to put next to your phone number, what a member of staff does when a relay call or a text comes in, and a checklist of what is still missing. It will not tell you a ramp or a hearing loop solves a telephone problem, and it will not wait for a complaint before it says what is missing.

## What it does

1. **Treat the duty as something you owe before anyone asks, not after.** Schedule 2 to the Equality Act 2010 applies the duty in section 20 to service providers, and paragraph 2(2) states that "the reference in section 20(3), (4) or (5) to a disabled person is to disabled persons generally," not to one person who has already complained. A phone-only booking line is a provision, criterion or practice that section 20(3) catches the moment it puts disabled callers generally at a disadvantage compared with everyone else, whether or not a particular caller has yet been turned away.

2. **Know which of the three requirements a phone-only line actually breaches.** Section 20(5) is the one that matters here: "Where the first or third requirement relates to the provision of information, the steps which it is reasonable for A to have to take include steps for ensuring that the information is provided in an accessible format." A caller who cannot hear or speak is being denied access to information, booking availability, and a response, in the only format you offer. The first requirement, in section 20(3), covers the same ground where a practice (phone only) itself is the barrier, not a physical feature.

3. **Publish the relay route, because it already exists and callers may already be using it.** Relay UK lets a deaf or speech impaired caller reach any UK number through a human relay assistant. RNID describes it plainly: "Relay UK is a free service to help deaf people" and others with hearing loss or speech difficulties "make phone calls," and states "it's free to use the Relay UK service," with the caller paying only their ordinary call charge. Government guidance gives the mechanics in one line: "Dial 18001 then the relevant contact number to use the Relay UK Text Service." A relay call to your number will show as an ordinary incoming call; it is not a scam or a wrong number, and it should be answered the same way any other call is.

4. **Tell staff what a relay call sounds like, so nobody hangs up on one.** RNID explains that "the relay assistant can" type what the hearing caller says for a deaf user, or read a written reply aloud for a user who cannot speak, meaning there will be a short delay and a third voice on the line relaying each side. A script line for staff removes the only real risk here, which is a confused team member ending the call.

5. **Offer a written channel as the second, parallel route, not a replacement for the phone.** Section 20(7) caps what you can ask the disabled person to pay for the adjustment: "a person who is subject to a duty to make reasonable adjustments is not entitled to require the disabled person, in relation to whom the duty is owed, to pay any of the costs of complying with the duty." A web form, a booking email address or SMS number that a sighted hearing caller can also use costs nothing extra to offer and satisfies this without building anything bespoke.

6. **Recognise that a BSL user may not be best served by text at all.** The British Sign Language Act 2022 recognises that "British Sign Language is recognised as a language of England, Wales and Scotland," which is a first language for many deaf people, not English rendered as text. Where a venue regularly deals with BSL users, a short video-call or video-relay booking slot is worth offering alongside text relay and a form, rather than assuming text covers everyone the Act and the Equality Act both apply to.

## Then it checks

1. The alternative routes are published next to the phone number, not only discoverable after a failed call.
2. A written route exists that costs the caller nothing beyond what any other customer would pay.
3. A staff script exists for answering a Relay UK call, naming the short delay and the relay assistant's voice so nobody disconnects it.
4. No adjustment offered requires the disabled caller to pay a cost a non-disabled caller would not pay.
5. The routes cover information, availability and a response, not just one of the three.
6. Where BSL users are a known part of the customer base, at least one route beyond text is offered or explicitly recorded as not yet available.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never present a physical adjustment (a ramp, a loop, larger print) as satisfying the information and communication requirement that a phone-only line breaches; they answer different requirements under section 20.
- Never charge a disabled caller for a route a hearing caller would use free, and never require the caller to supply their own relay equipment where a free public one already exists.
- Never assume a written channel fully discharges the duty to a BSL user without saying so is an assumption, since BSL is a distinct recognised language, not English in another form.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own booking process and to share with a disability or accessibility adviser where a specific adjustment is in doubt. It applies the Equality Act 2010 and the recognised relay service to a draft set of booking routes; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that the business's full booking process complies.

## Built from
- Equality Act 2010, section 20, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/20/enacted, read 4 November 2026: the three requirements, the accessible-format steps, and the no-cost rule behind steps 2, 5 and 6.
- Equality Act 2010, Schedule 2, paragraph 2, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/schedule/2/enacted, read 4 November 2026: the anticipatory application of the duty to disabled persons generally, behind step 1.
- British Sign Language Act 2022, section 1, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/34/enacted, read 4 November 2026: the recognition of BSL as a language, behind step 6.
- RNID, "Relay UK", https://rnid.org.uk/information-and-support/technology-and-products/relay-uk/, no publication date shown on the page, read 4 November 2026: what the service is, that it is free, and how a relay assistant handles the call, behind steps 3 and 4.
- HM Revenue and Customs, "Cannot use the telephone? Find a different way to contact us", https://www.gov.uk/get-help-hmrc-extra-support/cannot-use-telephone-different-way-to-contact, read 4 November 2026: the dial 18001 mechanic quoted in step 3.

# accessibility-call-alternative

## You are given
A description of the current booking contact methods and exactly how each one is published (phone number only, website contact page, printed menu, social profile). The wording of any alternative route already offered (web form, email, SMS number, video call slot), with the channel and where it is published. Whether a staff script exists for an unusual or relayed call, and its wording if so. Whether the business has records of BSL using or relay using customers (a simple yes, no, or unknown is enough). Any previous version of this policy and when it was last checked.

## Produce
Write into a `./accessibility-call-alternative-output/` folder:

1. `channel-inventory.csv` with columns: `channel`, `published_location`, `cost_to_customer`, `covers_information`, `covers_availability_check`, `covers_response`, `published_alongside_phone_number`. The last four columns are `yes` or `no`. `cost_to_customer` is `same as phone call`, `free`, or the cost stated.
2. `relay-readiness.csv` with columns: `staff_script_exists`, `script_text_verbatim`, `mentions_relay_delay`, `mentions_relay_assistant_voice`, `mentions_18001`. All `yes`/`no` columns are found by literal, case insensitive search of the supplied script text.
3. `cost-check.csv` with columns: `channel`, `requires_customer_to_own_equipment`, `requires_payment_beyond_standard_rate`, `verdict`. `verdict` is `pass` or `cost falls on the disabled customer`. Any `fail` row is listed first in `gaps.md`.
4. `bsl-coverage.csv` with columns: `bsl_users_known`, `video_or_bsl_route_offered`, `text_only_route_offered`, `verdict`. `verdict` is one of `covered`, `text only - recorded gap`, `unknown - not assessed`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any channel covering fewer than all three of information, availability and response; any channel with a cost or equipment requirement that falls on the customer; any missing staff script or one missing the three relay elements; the `bsl-coverage.csv` verdict if it is not `covered`; and any channel description with no published location recorded.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and records. It never drafts the alternative channel's customer-facing wording, never decides which channel to add, and never invents a BSL or relay statistic for the business.
- Never mark `covers_information`, `covers_availability_check` or `covers_response` as `yes` without the supplied description stating it explicitly.
- Never treat a physical adjustment (ramp, hearing loop, large print menu) as answering any column in `channel-inventory.csv`; those are a different kind of adjustment and are not counted here.
- Counts and searches are literal, case insensitive, never estimated.
- Never publish anything, never edit a live website or booking page, and never contact a customer.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write; flag rather than correct one in supplied text.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own booking process and to share with a disability or accessibility adviser where a specific adjustment is in doubt. It applies the supplied description to a draft set of booking routes and is not confirmation that the business's full booking process complies.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of channels inventoried and how many cover all three of information, availability and response. The `cost-check.csv` verdict for every channel, stated in full. Whether a staff relay script exists and which of the three relay elements it contains. The `bsl-coverage.csv` verdict. The `gaps.md` item count in full, with every item listed.